The present exemplary embodiments relate to a security video system for quantitatively tracking and verifying the condition of special collections' inventories. Embodiments find particular application in conjunction with an electronic index, catalog or classification system that is used to track rare items in special collections, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the embodiments are also amenable to other like applications.
Many universities, libraries, museums, and historical societies (collectively referred to as “facilities”) house special collections of rare books, manuscripts, printed materials, and artifacts. The collections do not circulate, and are held in closed storage. While special collections are generally off limits to the public, many facilities allow the items to be consulted in a designated reading room. The items cannot leave the facility.
Strict procedures are in place for viewing special collections. For example, access may be restricted to scholars and researchers; access may be restricted by appointment; the viewing may be monitored by an attendant; detailed identification information may be required of the patron; writing instruments may be prohibited; and back packs, brief cases, and heavy apparel may be restricted in the reading room. Additionally, the reading rooms are under camera surveillance.
The current procedures are employed to deter theft and tampering because many of the items in special collections are original, irreplaceable, valuable, and/or priceless. If stolen, an item can be lost for years if it is not listed on a market.
The current security measures are largely effective for protecting against theft of an item in special collections. A partial theft—that is, the removal of only a portion of the item—is a more difficult crime to protect against. The theft of pages, a single page, or even a portion of a page from a rare document—for illustrative purposes—can go unnoticed for years after the incident occurred. For example, instances are reported where a theft was only discovered during an insurance appraisal, and the items were missing for an indeterminable amount of time at that point. This delay between the tampering and the discovery makes an investigation of the theft extremely difficult to conduct, and recovery of a stolen portion nearly impossible to obtain.
The current investigation relies on surveillance footage that is captured by a video monitoring system. The video monitoring system operates independent of the indexing system, which is used by the facility to store and retrieve items. If a portion of a special collection item is found missing, the troubleshooting process is quite rigorous. First, an investigator has to search the library records to determine the times when the item was checked out, and by whom and to which reading table the item was assigned. Once armed with this information, the investigator has to access the video system; determine the cameras associated with the reading table; and review the video over the time frames when the item was checked out. This process must be repeated for every patron that checked the item out, sometimes over periods of years or decades. Additionally, the process can be complicated by grainy or pixelated video evidence. And, the theft may be obscured by objects in the camera field of view. Depending on the camera placement, motion-based video cameras may not record evidence if the motion-detection algorithm fails to detect movement. For example, the theft activity is represented by too few pixels in the video frame to be detected, for example, when the theft occurs far from the camera. In short, skilled thieves may have been able to avoid and work around video surveillance.
Currently a manual, visible inspection is also relied upon to verify that material is returned intact. There is no automated system in place to immediately identify tampering, or to launch an investigation upon a potential incident of tampering. There is no monitoring system in place that integrates with an indexing system of a facility. An improved system and method are therefore desired for performing these operations.